A week after the city pulled its approval for the proposed Voorhies Avenue Islamic cultural and prayer center, the Department of Buildings re-approved construction designs on Friday following a meeting with property holder Allowey Ahmed and the architect for the building slated to go up between East 28th and East 29th streets.

“They came in to address our questions and the hold has been lifted,” agency spokeswoman Carly Sullivan said.

The approval is a stark turnaround. Last Friday, the city blocked the proposal for the as-of-right project after approving it just two days earlier. At the time, the agency told Ahmed that the project may have to undergo another exhaustive review that could take five months.

Ahmed was not alone in thinking that the city’s sudden flip-flop was spearheaded by the widespread opposition to the mosque, which has been the subject of at least three protests.

The city denied such claims.

“Additional reviews by the department are common and can be critical to ensuring submitted documents comply with all applicable laws,” Sullivan said.

The main opposition group, Bay People, has said that it objects to the mosque because it will bring too much traffic to Voorhies Avenue. But the tenor of the rallies has been frequently anti-Islamic rather than anti-congestion, with signs reading “Islam not welcome here,” “New York is not Islamabad” and “Do not forget 9-11!” carried by protesters. One resident even claimed he was going to “blow up the mosque” if it was built.

Through it all, there has been repeated assertions that the Musim American Society, which is backing the mosque, is link to terrorism, though no direct link has been shown.

The city denied an initial set of designs for the mosque late last year. In the new set of plans, which were filed in June, Ahmed shrunk the project from four floors to three. The mosque will be on the first two floors with the third reserved for classroom space. No on-site parking is proposed.

Once built, the mosque will be able to accommodate up to 120 worshippers, but less than 20 will be coming to worship on a daily basis, Ahmed claims.

Now that this latest hurdle’s been cleared, Ahmed said plans to go ahead with the project “as soon as possible.”

At the same time, members of Bay People have vowed to continue their fight to stop the project, even if it means taking Ahmed and other mosque proponents to court.

Is anyone really that much of an idiot? I mean, a decade after the dawn of the third millennium, does anyone remain so historically and politically illiterate that they believe such an asinine statement to be true? Really?

Come on, put an actual name behind it (as I have done here) and I'll go to the trouble of rebutting it. In the meantime, I'll simply observe that Sheepshead Bay's "blow up the mosque" Zionist goons are terrorists, too.

Oct. 24, 2010, 12:20 am

mike from GP says:

And don't forget Oklahoma City.. another terrorist act perpetrated by..... not a Muslim!

And I'm sure that, before the Tea Party self-destructs, at least one of the wackos amongst them will engage in violence. These are some dark times, folks.

Oct. 24, 2010, 6:14 am

Matt P. from Crown Heights says:

To the inaptly named "The Truth",Way to regurgitate the mantra of Fox News' Brian Kilmead --a mantra wholly divorced from reality.

If all terrorists are Muslims, what of the 94% of terrorist incidents that have occurred in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005 there were NOT committed by "Islamic extremists"? What of the hundreds of abortion clinic bombings, every one of which was committed by white male Christians?

Oct. 24, 2010, 7:18 am

Michael Hirsch from LES says:

Of course, "The Truth" is talking rubbish. Dangerous rubbish. Saying that, I just want to congratulate Tom Tracy on a terrific story. I knew Tom on another paper years ago. Good reporter then, good reporter now.

Oct. 24, 2010, 9:18 am

Sufi from Crown Heights says:

If you read the Quran all who are not Muslim are infidels. How long until you Americans wake up.

Oct. 24, 2010, 8:31 pm

Jorge says:

Sufi, if you read the Holy Bible, all who are not Christian should be converted immediately or they will rot in hell for eternity. How long until you Crown Heightsans wake up?

Oct. 24, 2010, 10:20 pm

Avi from Ditmas Park says:

"At the same time, members of Bay People have vowed to continue their fight to stop the project, even if it means taking Ahmed and other mosque proponents to court."

Good luck to members of the Bay People. Whats your argument? You don't like the First Amendment?

Oct. 24, 2010, 10:57 pm

Avi from Ditmas Park says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Oct. 24, 2010, 10:58 pm

Rob from Greenpoint says:

Truth: keep parroting that inane, stupid, incorrectphrase.What about the IRAWhat about the Irgun and Stern Gang (historically)What about right wing militias and Christian nut jobsin our own country.

Oct. 25, 2010, 10:32 am

www. from Brooklyn says:

Islam is the cancer of the world. Look what is happening to Paris.

Oct. 25, 2010, 8:44 pm

Rob from Greenpoint says:

www: and let's not forget the UK.check out thereligionofpeace.com

Oct. 27, 2010, 8:28 am

doer from Brookyln says:

what matters here is the bigots failed to stop truth, and freedom is teh winner.

welcome everybody and lets the USA LIFE...

Great news,

Oct. 28, 2010, 4:37 am

jack says:

Silly americans, letting the enemy set up its cacoon in its heart

Oct. 31, 2010, 8:05 pm

jack says:

Silly americans, letting the enemy set up its cacoon in its heart

Oct. 31, 2010, 8:05 pm

Comments closed.

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